Jenson Button enjoyed a rather uneventful afternoon for once, and one which rewarded the McLaren driver with a ninth place finish and a few championship points.
As predicted by the former world champion himself, Button struggled early on to maintain a position just outside the top ten before getting pushed down to as low as 14th. He then steadily progressed up the ranks, with his team mate Fernando Alonso in tow, while taking full advantage of the late stage chaos to conclude his afternoon's racing just inside the points.
"It was a long afternoon," said Jenson. "I was a sitting duck in the first couple of laps, as I couldn't fight off the people behind."
"On a one stop strategy the tyres worked just as well on the first lap as they did on the last lap. It wasn't bad. I was racing Fernando for the whole race, which was all I could really do, as all the other cars were quicker. I sort of enjoyed it I guess, crossing the line in P9."
Button once again made due with the limited capabilities of his Honda power unit, well aware that any substantial improvement will have to wait until 2016.
"The power was cutting off fairly early on the straights so it was fairly easy for others to overtake. That was tricky: they were trying to pass me into Turn 13, which is a pretty scary place, especially when you don’t have DRS and can’t gauge the closing speed of the cars behind."
"We did everything right, we stayed out there, did the best we could and we got some points!"
Hamilton close to title after Russian GP win
AS IT HAPPENED: Russian Grand Prix
Click here for the F1 drivers' girlfriends gallery
Keep up to date with all the F1 news via Facebook and Twitter
Oliver Bearman got quite the early morning wake-up call on Friday in Sao Paulo when…
While his team mate Max Verstappen thrilled the fans with a run from 17th on…
Williams suffered a bruising time on Sunday in Sao Paulo, with Alex Albon unable to…
McLaren team principal Andrea Stella has insisted that the squad has no regrets about their…
On this day in 1989, Williams' Thierry Boutsen secured his second F1 win when he…
Red Bull team principal Christian Horner hailed Max Verstappen’s sensational Sao Paulo Grand Prix victory…